


Un-Cursing the Caps

by eafay70



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: (for want of a better description), 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Alternate Universe - No Girlfriends/No Wives, Curses, M/M, Magical Realism, but they are mentioned, featuring Slapshot the mascot, no Penguins appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 16:22:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15755400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eafay70/pseuds/eafay70
Summary: Slapshot's humans finally realize there's a curse that needs breaking. They don't get it right on the first try, but things turn out all right in the end.





	Un-Cursing the Caps

**Author's Note:**

  * For [doubleminorforroughing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubleminorforroughing/gifts), [AetherSeer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AetherSeer/gifts).



> Today (August 21) is Fanfic Writer Appreciation Day! [(more information here)](http://salt-of-the-ao3.tumblr.com/post/177236528061/belovedyuuri-august-21st-is-fanfic-writers)
> 
> My way of celebrating is publishing this little fic which Aether has helped cheerlead into existence! <3 You are a truly amazing author and an even better friend. I hope you enjoy this small token of appreciation!
> 
> I'm also gifting this to doubleminorforlicking, who was first to come up with the "the Caps are cursed and only an act of true love will break the curse" idea. My heartfelt thanks for allowing me to throw in a mascot! :)

Slapshot loved his humans, but sometimes they were absolute idiots. How had it taken so many years for them to ask him for help?? Ah, well, better late than never.

He pointed to the picture of a wand with a black cloud. “We’re cursed?” Sasha gasped. “That's real?” A nod.

Next was a picture of a heart. Nicky groaned. “Only an act of true love can break the curse? Are you kidding me?” A glare. “Sorry.”

Idiots. His idiots whom he would defend against all foes, but idiots beyond a doubt.

*

Nicky couldn't sleep. He kept thinking about Slapshot’s message: an act of true love. Since the team already called him Papa, Nicky doubted the curse could be broken with platonic love. And, to be completely honest, the Caps’ most successful rivals displayed a very nonplatonic love if you knew what to look for. So the curse probably had to do with romantic love.

Nicky sighed wistfully. He wanted to fix this for the team, and Slapshot seemed to think he could do it - after all, the eagle had specifically addressed him and Sasha. But the fact that the curse was still here disqualified Nicky for one simple reason: He had been in love with Sasha for years and done his best to make his feelings clear more than once, all to no avail.

What to do?

*

“Group hug!” Sasha ordered as the team took the ice for practice. Nicky frowned, but didn’t say anything, seemingly resigned to Sasha getting his way.

“Why?” Kuzy asked on behalf of everyone else.

“Feel the love!” Sasha proclaimed. “Come on!”

Nobody wanted Sasha to persist, so the group hug took place, even though Nicky didn’t stop frowning the entire time. “We the best team! Gonna win everything!”

Slapshot, who was watching from his customary place in the hallway, shook his head in exasperation. Flaunting your curse-breaking efforts was asking for trouble! And this curse wasn't even based on team bonding, unlike the curse the team had unknowingly broken by dubbing Nicky “Papa.” No, this curse was based on true love, which was a different matter entirely. Maybe another presentation was in order...

*

Sasha chuckled at the confused look on Braden’s face after training. “Not a hugger, Holtbeast?”

“Oh, I’m a hugger,” Braden retorted. He pulled Kuzy into a one-armed embrace to prove it. “I just don’t understand why you wanted us to ‘feel the love’ today. Don’t we do that anyway?”

“Not enough to feel it, have to SHOW it!” Sasha explained. “Like you and Zhenya now! Feel the love, show the love!”

“If you say so, Ovi.” Braden released Kuzy and resumed his usual routine.

Sasha sighed fondly, his eyes settling on Nicky sitting a few feet away as per usual. “Lunch, Nicky? My place?”

“Okay,” Nicky answered, not looking up. Sasha thought that was odd, but decided not to press the matter until the two of them were alone.

As soon as they were seated in Sasha’s kitchen with their sandwiches, Sasha spoke up: “Why you grumpy today, Nicky? Not like group hug?”

“I don’t think that’s what the curse is about,” Nicky explained. “The team calls us Dad and Papa, or Mama and Papa if they’re feeling silly. As far as I know, those stupid flightless birds don’t do that to their Russian and his guy.”

“I have no clue what they call their Zhenya,” Sasha conceded. “But act of true love not have to be romantic, even if everybody knows that the case with their Zhenya.”

Nicky stared at his sandwich, clenching his hands silently. It made Sasha’s spirits sink to see him so unhappy.

“Nicky?” Sasha whispered. “What wrong? Tell me and I help fix.”

“You can’t,” Nicky replied stonily. “I’ve done everything I can over the years and we’re still cursed, so clearly it’s not up to us.”

“What you done over years?”

“The fact you have to ask is the only answer I need.” Nicky sounded close to tears, and that just wouldn’t do.

“Don’t cry, Nicky…” Sasha stroked his hair softly, remembering when Nicky used to do that for him in Moscow after Sasha’s terrible first dates. “You so good to everyone – remember favorite foods, give best gifts, let kiss under mistletoe so team stop chirping…”

“THAT WAS JUST YOU!” Nicky burst into tears and stood up, leaving Sasha’s hand in midair. “I remember YOUR favorite foods, I give YOU the best gifts, I let YOU kiss me under the mistletoe so the others would stop chirping!”

Sasha blinked, absolutely stunned. “You not like that with others?”

“They say I have ‘murder eyes,’ you idiot!” Nicky sniffled before continuing to speak. “I have loved you since…well, I don’t know when, but I figured it out after the tenth or twentieth time you came home from a failed first date in Moscow. I realized I wanted to prove that your first date ideas really were awesome, but I didn’t know how to tell you that, so I decided to just keep making you feel better until someone came along who agreed with me.”

Sasha gulped. “I’m idiot.”

“I just said that.”

“And you always right, Nicky,” Sasha quickly added as he stood up and walked over to Nicky. “But you a little bit idiot, too, just this time. Could have just shown feelings.”

“It’s not like you even hinted at feeling the same way,” Nicky pointed out.

“Good point.” Sasha sighed, lamenting his stupidity. “I thought it obvious that you my everything, but I didn’t want risk hurting team, so I kept secret. I very sorry, Nicky.”

Before Nicky could reply, Sasha leaned down and kissed him. There was no explosion of fireworks or other hint of magical curses breaking, but it felt like everything was finally perfect, especially once Nicky kissed back, so Sasha really didn’t care if it affected the curse or not.

*

Being a mascot, Slapshot knew his humans well. So when Nicky and Sasha came in the next day looking much happier, Slapshot knew they had finally stopped being idiots. The big win over that flightless Pennsylvanian’s troops was mere confirmation from the curse side of things.

**Author's Note:**

> Extra things that didn't quite find their way into the fic:
> 
> -Kuzy's eagle celebration is his way of thanking Slapshot for allowing him to vent in Russian every so often. The hockey gods like it when players acknowledge mascots, so the celebration helped the Caps finally reach their ultimate goal.
> 
> (-But how does a mascot-less team stand a chance, you ask? Well, there are only two such teams, and both are geographically linked to beloved MLB mascots, so it very slightly spills over...emphasis on 'very slightly.')
> 
> -Braden, like all good goalies, is very observant and therefore figured out that Nicky and Sasha getting their act together would break the curse. However, he also figured out that if he personally intervened too much, there was a very good chance of the hockey gods seeing it as cheating, so he stayed quiet.
> 
> -While Sasha and Geno are, in fact, capable of getting along for Team Russia purposes, Slapshot and Iceburgh struggle to get along for Eastern Conference purposes during the All-Star Weekend. They only manage it by reminding themselves that it's just one weekend - they can get back to their usual rivalry in just a few days.


End file.
